Ecosystem collapse a risk in one fifth of the world’s countries

The spread of intensive farming threatens to jeopardize the world’s chances of meeting the term of the Paris agreement on the climate crisis.

Nitrous oxide is given off by the overuse of artificial fertilizers, and by organic sources such as animal manure, and has a heating effect 300 times that of carbon dioxide. Levels of nitrous oxide in the atmosphere are 20% higher than in pre-industrial times, with most of the increase coming from farming. Emissions of nitrous oxide are growing at a rate of 1.4% a year, outstripping the forecasts of the intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and, left unrestricted, would put the world on track to exceed the 2% warming limit set in 2015, according to a paper published in the journal Nature. Guardian Weekly. 16 Oct 2020)